I have England's Best Logic Problems, Summer 2005, and I am stumped on 89. Commonwealth Days. I have read the answer in the back and am still stumped.

Clue 5 states: Jim Ward is neither the computer programmer nor the man who adopts the role of a Roundhead trooper and also the name of either Jasper Purvis or Giles Tibbetts.

I interpret this to mean that Jim Ward is not the programmer and doesn't adopt the role of trooper. The Roundhead trooper is either Jasper Purvis or Giles Tibbetts. According to your answer, "Jasper isn't the Roundhead trooper (clue 5),..." but this contradicts Clue 5. I can narrow Jasper down to either trooper or preacher, but can't go any further. Am I missing something?

I don't have any magazines at my house going back that far. Would you be able to type the intro and clues so we can see what the whole puzzle is, and see if we come to your conclusion or something else?

I have England's Best Logic Problems, Summer 2005, and I am stumped on 89. Commonwealth Days. I have read the answer in the back and am still stumped.

Clue 5 states: Jim Ward is neither the computer programmer nor the man who adopts the role of a Roundhead trooper and also the name of either Jasper Purvis or Giles Tibbetts.

I interpret this to mean that Jim Ward is not the programmer and doesn't adopt the role of trooper. The Roundhead trooper is either Jasper Purvis or Giles Tibbetts. According to your answer, "Jasper isn't the Roundhead trooper (clue 5),..." but this contradicts Clue 5. I can narrow Jasper down to either trooper or preacher, but can't go any further. Am I missing something?

We took another look at this puzzle. As you say, clue 5 reads "Jim Ward is neither the computer programmer nor the man who adopts the role of a Roundhead trooper." This means that Jim Ward isn't the computer programmer, that Jim Ward isn't the man who adopts the role of a Roundhead trooper, and that the computer programmer isn't the man who adopts the role of a Roundhead trooper (please see the note on page 18 of this issue for clarification on our use of the neither/nor construction).Now, since by this point in the solution, we have determined that the computer programmer adopted the name Jasper Purvis, we can conclude from clue 5 that he did not adopt the role of the Roundhead trooper.I hope this explanation has been helpful.